Mormon People's Party

The Mormon People's Party was a conservative Mormon political party in the Utah Territory that was active from 1870 to 1891. The party emerged in response to the Liberal Party of Utah, and Daniel H. Wells was the party's first electoral success, winning re-election as Mayor of Salt Lake City as a People's Party candidate (previous candidates ran without party affiliation). The party's name was meant to discredit the view that Brigham Young was a tyrant, and it also referenced the fact that the majority of settlers in Utah were Mormons. The party was supported by an overwhelming majority in most elections, and it championed women's suffrage, extending the right to vote to women in the first year of its existence. Throughout its history, People's Party candidates never lost a statewide election, although local elections were rarely lost to the Liberals. In June 1891, the party was disbanded prior to elections for territorial legislature, and members joined either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.